


The Witches' House

by TrueMeg



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Muggle, First Meetings, Gen, Halloween, Harry Potter Next Generation, Kid Fic, Meet-Cute, Muggleborn Albus, Not Canon Compliant, Urban Legends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-24
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:14:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26905717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TrueMeg/pseuds/TrueMeg
Summary: “I dare you to go to the witches’ house!”On Halloween night, ten-year-old Albus is brought along with James and his friends to go visit the house at the edge of their village, where a family of witches is said to live. But when Albus ends up stuck at the house, he sees the witches for himself. And learns they’re much more like him in more ways than one.
Relationships: Scorpius Malfoy & Albus Severus Potter
Comments: 12
Kudos: 61





	The Witches' House

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Halloween! Enjoy this Halloween-themed fic!

_“I dare you to go up to the witches’ house!”_

Albus had grown up with the stories. One couldn’t grow up in their village without hearing the stories of the big, dark, ivy-covered house out in the country. It was bigger than any other house around, surrounded by empty grounds and a forest, cut off from the rest of the village. 

A family of witches lived there. 

Some children said they performed magic in the house every night. Some said it was just on Halloween that they were able to do their magic. But one story of the house was always the same every year: children who wandered into the house’s garden or even right up to the house itself may never be seen again.

It had really become a tradition in their village, for the kids to dare each other to go up to the house on Halloween night.

That was James Potter’s plan for tonight.

James shoved a flashlight into Albus’ hands while he pulled on a hoodie. “Keep up, alright? I’ll leave you behind if I have to. So don’t slow us down.” With that, James turned on his heel and went right out the front door. Albus scrambled after him. 

Truthfully Albus didn’t want to go out to the house with James at all tonight. He would’ve much rather spent the night collecting candy with their parents and Lily. But James had teased Albus for over a week. “You’re ten years old, you’re still afraid of them? You’d rather be with Mum and Dad and your little sister getting sweets?” He’d taunt when their parents weren’t around. James had even gotten his friends in on the teasing too. Albus would be a wuss or a baby if he didn’t join them. It all ate at him until he’d agreed to go with them just to get them to shut up. And despite the brave face he put on for James and his friends, inside Albus was terrified. 

Because while the stories of the witches’ house were ridiculous and it was stupid for children to try and go up to the house every year on Halloween, Albus was still scared of the idea. 

Last year James had come home on Halloween bragging about how he’d jumped the big fence and he’d run right up to the house and touched it. And he lived to tell the tale. Albus swore James had walked around with his chest puffed out, proud of his accomplishment, all the way until Christmas. And all of James’ bragging only made Albus more scared of the house. James’ friends became obsessed with swapping stories about people they saw in the windows of the house, green lights they’d see from inside, or children disappearing on the grounds. Some were clearly fake, and some probably weren’t. 

And in the end all of it made Albus feel worse about going out there tonight. 

They met a group of four other boys, all James’ age, on their street corner. All of them had flashlights in hand.

James led the gang of boys toward the edge of the village. Albus could see the tops of the trees towering over the roofs of the houses, and getting bigger as they got closer to the end of the street.

“Scared, Alby Potter?” Billy asked from behind Albus. “You can run home to cry any time you want.”

Albus glared at him. “I’m not scared.”

“Good,” Billy sneered as he gave Albus a light shove. “I reckon the witches will like you more than any of us. On a count that they like the _smallest_ of any group. And the weirdest.”

Albus hunched his shoulders and tried to walk a little faster. James and the other boys were a few steps ahead. But Billy kept on him. 

“I think they’ll take you and sacrifice you. The weird things you do will give them all their power for their dark magic tonight.”

Albus finally ran ahead to catch up with the rest of the group. He refused to show that Billy’s taunts were already getting to him. 

Albus wanted to believe that nothing about the house was out of the ordinary. Maybe just some lonely old lady lived there and the house itself just happened to look odd and dark. Maybe the house was completely abandoned and the lights inside were just a trick of the eye. He didn’t want to believe that witches would snatch children for dark magic. Except Albus _was_ the smallest of the group tonight, and he’d certainly be the slowest if it came down to out-running something. 

But he really didn’t want to believe that, if there were witches there, that they’d want Albus for...whatever it is he could do. Because he didn’t even know what it was. Strange things just happened to him. Like the time he was running from James and his friends in the schoolyard and he suddenly ended up on the roof of the school. Or when he’d wake up from a nightmare and his books would fly off of his bookshelf. Or the time a classmate was teasing him and the window next to him suddenly shattered. Strange things he never had an explanation for. But happened too often for them to just be strange coincidences. 

James sometimes called Albus a freak, or refused to go near him and frequently got reprimanded by their parents for it. But nothing stopped James’ friends from bringing it up. Especially tonight while they were out on their own. 

The thought that the witches would snatch Albus because of his strange thing sent a chill down his spine, and the cold wind picked up and whistled through the trees right at that instant. 

The boys reached the edge of the forest, and there was no fanfare or anything special as they crossed in. The sun had long set, casting the village into a comforting dusk. But as soon as they stepped onto the trail and into the forest, the darkness felt like it was closing in on them, cutting them off from the outside world entirely. The only light was the stars occasionally appearing through the canopy of trees, and the kids’ flashlight beams flickering across the trail.

James’ energy only seemed to heighten. He spent the next ten minutes going back and forth with Michael and Aiden about how this time, he wasn’t just going to touch the house, he was going to look in.

“Bet you’ll get grabbed right through the window,” Aiden made a quick grabbing motion to emphasize his point.

“Bet they’d love to throw you into their cauldron,” Michael piped up. “Maybe that’ll finally get you to shut up.”

That one got a small smile out of Albus. But his nerves didn’t calm at all. He nervously fidgeted with the zipper of his hoodie as he walked, and while looking at the beam of his light on the ground, he could see the edges of it shaking. Maybe he should have chickened out of going tonight. He could’ve been happily walking through the center of town collecting sweets with his sister and perfectly happy to ignore the stupid witch house. But of course, he had to fall for James’ taunting.

Albus listened to the five older boys banter for several minutes, before Trevor loudly shushed the group and pointed down the trail. Just ahead of them the trees disappeared, opening into what was the grounds of the house. The older boys broke into a run, leaving Albus behind and making him run extra hard to catch up to them. They were still loudly shushing each other as they came to the edge of the house’s grounds.

They stood before a tall stone wall that stretched on into the distance on either side of them. The only thing breaking up the wall was a gate right in front of the boys, made of black wrought iron twisted into a sinister design.

James grabbed the gate and pressed his face into the wrought iron, gazing at the house. “Freaky place, isn’t it?”

Albus stepped up to the gate. The house sat back on the grounds, across a well-manicured lawn and pristine landscaping, well away from where the boys currently stood. It was much bigger than Albus had ever pictured. He’d always thought the place would look like some squat little cottage like in all the fairytales. But this place was a couple stories high, and was made of what looked like smooth and worn stones. Pointed roofs jutted into the air, and ivy crawled up the sides of the walls. The full moon cast its light all around the house and the lawns, and it somehow gave the whole place that much more of a sinister air. This wasn’t any old house. Albus had just learned the word ‘manor’ from one of his fantasy books. And that’s what this house was. A manor. 

“There’s a light on!” Trevor pointed through the gate. Sure enough there was a faint light in several of the downstairs windows, and Albus could see it was flickering like a candle. 

So there was someone - or something - living inside. So much for the possibility of the house actually being abandoned.

“I’m going to the side of the house,” James suddenly declared. “There’s a hole in the fence I know of. I can get in no problem.”

“We’ll stay here,” Billy replied. “We’ll watch you in case the witches come out.”

“Give a signal if you see them moving around,” James told him. “Okay. Trevor and Aiden come with me. Billy, Michael, Albus, you lot stay here.”

Albus finally snapped his head away from the house. “Don’t leave me with them!”

"Oh come on, you baby," Billy sneered.

“Al, it’s fine.” With barely another look back, James took off into the woods with Trevor and Aiden right behind him. 

Leaving Albus behind with Billy and Michael.

“Scared, Potter?” 

Albus glared at them. “No.”

Billy pocketed his flashlight and went up to the stone wall. He was just tall enough to reach the top of the wall and pull himself up. He swung his leg up and over, so he was now sat on the top of the fence looking over the manor’s grounds. Michael too was able to pull himself up to the top of the wall.

Billy turned around to Albus. “Come on up, Potter. Unless you _are_ scared.”

Albus preferred being on the relative safety of this side of the wall, where there was less risk of a witch grabbing his ankles and pulling him into the grounds. But he wasn’t going to give them the satisfaction. Albus stepped up to the wall and reached up.

“I’m not tall enough,” Albus said, hoping that would give him an excuse to stay where he was.

But before he could do anything else, Billy grabbed his wrist and hoisted him up. Albus had to quickly grab for the wall and swing his legs up before he fell. He situated himself next to Billy, giving him a side-eye as he did so, and the three boys looked out over the manor.

Albus’ legs dangled over the wall, just beneath them were a few bushes. Something dark or magical could’ve easily been hiding there, but Albus couldn’t see anything. So far, the grounds before them looked very normal. Like he’d see a photograph of this manor in a pamphlet or textbook. Like some very rich Lords and Ladies lived here. Clearly someone did live here, since the place looked like it was kept-up. And with that mysterious light flickering in that downstairs corner window. 

“We should see James from here, right?” Michael asked.

“‘Course we will,” Billy said. “We’ll see his last moments before he gets snatched up.”

Albus shivered.

“You might be the oldest brother soon, Alby Potter,” Billy nudged Albus.

Albus shoved his hand away. “Shut up.”

“There he is!” Michael was quickly tapping Billy’s shoulder and pointed in the distance.

It took Albus a second to find it in the dark, but soon enough he saw what Michael was pointing at. A small, dark figure was sprinting across the lawn. Albus’ heart suddenly started pounding as he leaned forward, watching his brother. James was the fastest kid in school, and he was going full-on toward the house. 

James made it to the side of the house in a few seconds and he was nearly lost in the shadows of the house. They could just barely see James go up to one of the windows, pause for several seconds, and then quickly turn around and run back the same way he’d come.

That was it. While Albus thought it was pretty anticlimactic, he was eager for this to be the end of their night here, and they could go home.

“Come on, let’s meet up with them,” Michael said.

Albus sighed in relief.

But as he went to swing his legs back over the wall, he felt a hand on the center of his back, and Albus was suddenly pushed forward. He lost contact with the wall beneath him, and he was completely weightless for a second before crashing down into the bushes below. He fell right through the bush, branches scratching up his hands and face, and landed with a thud in the dirt below. 

His first quick thought was of the shock in his arms from the fall. The second thought was the chilling realization that he was now _inside_ the manor’s property. He was on the witch grounds. 

Albus scrambled to get up, slipping a few times. But when he was finally up on his feet, Billy and Michael were gone from their perch.

“Billy!” Albus called. But no one called back. Albus was sure he could hear the faint thumps of running footsteps in the distance. 

He stumbled over to the gate and shook it, but the thing didn’t budge. And he was too small to climb back up and over. He was trapped. Albus’ heart hammered in his chest and his whole body felt icy cold. This was bad. _Really bad_.

“James! Help!” Albus yelled, shaking the gate again. But once again, there was no response. Just the wind rustling the trees above. James and his friends were long gone, leaving Albus behind.

Images flashed of Albus being surrounded by witches, snatched up and thrown into a boiling cauldron while they chanted their dark magic around him. Fear was coursing through him, threatening to swallow him from the inside out. 

Albus rattled the gate and called for James again in a last-ditch desperate attempt to get out of this alive.

“Who are you?”

Albus jumped. He quickly whipped around, facing the voice that had come from behind him while pressing his back against the gate. 

This was it. The witches were here for him. 

Except Albus was facing a young boy who looked to be about the same age as him. He was blond, _very_ blond in fact. His hair was practically white. The boy wore a long, dark cloak around his shoulders and secured around his neck, and he held a lantern up near his face. An _actual_ lantern with a real flame inside of it. 

He was definitely a witch. 

“Please don’t!” Albus burst. His fear had completely overwhelmed him by now. 

“Don’t what?” The boy asked.

“Don’t...I was just...I didn’t mean to. I was pushed in and...I didn’t even want to come here at all. I’m sorry!” Albus was certain his stammering definitely wouldn’t help him. 

But the boy only cocked his head to the side. “Sorry for what?” He asked, his eyes furrowing. “I saw what happened. That other boy pushed you. It wasn’t your fault. Are you alright though? I’m Scorpius by the way!”

The boy spoke rather fast. Or maybe Albus was just so terrified and slightly confused as to what was going on. “I’m Albus,” he muttered, before he realized he definitely shouldn’t be giving his name to a witch. “You saw that?”

Scorpius nodded. “I’ve come to expect kids not unlike yourself to show up here on Halloween. Happens every year.”

He probably loved having kids show up here on Halloween. More children for their dark magic.

“You’re a witch, aren’t you!” The words burst out of Albus. 

“A what?”

“A witch,” Albus said. “I know all the stories. Everyone in town knows them. This is a witch’s house and the people who live here kidnap children on Halloween to perform their magic.”

The wind whistled around them, the cold biting at Albus’ face and threatening to make a few tears escape down his cheeks. 

“That seems like a lot of effort,” Scorpius said.

Albus’ face screwed up in confusion. “What?”

“If I wanted to do magic I could just do it. Kidnapping kids on one specific night of the year is a lot of effort and it wouldn’t actually do anything.”

It seemed to take Scorpius a second to realize what he’d said. He suddenly clapped his hand over his mouth and stared at Albus with wide eyes.

Albus pressed himself further back into the gate. “You-you can do magic?” So the stories were true.

Scorpius’ free hand started nervously fiddling with the clasp of his cloak. Why was he so nervous? Albus had much more reason to be nervous right now. 

“Yes, but not in that way,” Scorpius replied. “My family are wizards, not witches like the stories. Well, Mum’s a witch technically. But not like the stories either. We don’t do anything evil or dark. We just live like any Muggle except we’ve got wands and our own schools and jobs for wizards. And we have magic. But not in an evil way, like in a normal way…”

The two boys stared at each other for several seconds after Scorpius trailed off. Scorpius still spoke very fast, yet he said these words like “wizard” and “witch” and “magic” like they were so normal. 

“You’re...magic?”

“Um...yes. But I wasn’t supposed to tell you that.”

And now Albus didn’t know what he was supposed to say. His fear had been replaced by an overwhelming sense of confusion. And oddly, endearment. Scorpius was quite funny, the way he spoke so quickly and how he was being so nice to Albus.

This wasn’t supposed to be how he met a witch tonight. He expected something like the movies. Not a boy his age with white hair nervously shifting around while he rambled away in the dark.

“How old are you?” Albus asked.

“I’m ten. You?”

“Me too.” Albus shoved his hands into his pockets. “And you’re a witch?”

“A wizard."

“But you still do magic and stuff? How’s that any different?”

“We call boys wizards and girls witches. Kind of stupid but...not important right now. Anyway, I know what the muggles think of us,” Scorpius said, though Albus had no idea what he meant by that. “You all call us evil and dark but we’re not.”

“Well then what do you do with magic if it’s not evil?” As soon as the words were out of his mouth he knew it was a stupid question. He’d read plenty of books and watched movies about people with magic who weren’t evil. Though, all the stories about this house and who lived here didn't really help.

“All sorts of things!” Scorpius’ expression brightened, and Albus could swear the lantern in his hand blazed brighter too. “We use it for anything. Charms and Potions and we can turn things into other things. And flying on brooms!”

Albus found himself smiling a little. He had a hard time believing Scorpius was making this up. “You can do all these things?”

“Well I can’t, not yet,” Scorpius said. “I start school next year to learn it all. I can do some magic now but I can’t really control it. Sometimes it comes out in bursts and I accidentally break something...or even today! I made all of the books fly off of my dad’s bookshelf! He wasn’t very happy but mum always says he can’t stay mad at me for long.”

Albus didn’t catch the last part of what Scorpius had said. His whole body had run cold again. Scorpius could do the same things Albus did, the strange things he couldn’t control. And Scorpius said it was magic, and he was a wizard, so did that mean…

“Are you okay, Albus?”

Albus snapped back to the moment. And he was struck by how genuinely Scorpius was looking at him. “I’m fine. It’s cold out…” He muttered, pushing his hands deeper in his pockets. 

“Oh right. You probably want to get home. We can-”

“Scorpius!”

Both boys turned to see another figure coming toward them from the house. 

“It’s okay!” Scorpius said before Albus could properly get scared. “It’s just my mum.”

Soon the figure came into view, stepping into Scorpius’ lantern light. Scorpius’ mum was tall, with wavy dark hair and a kind expression. “What’s going on out here?” She saw Albus. “Hi there. What’s your name?”

“This is Albus!” Scorpius jumped in before Albus could. “He lives in town!”

Albus took a small step toward the woman. “My brother and his friends and I came here to see the house. My brother’s friend pushed me off the wall, I didn’t mean to get here, I’m sorry…” Maybe if Albus explained the situation, he wouldn’t be in trouble. After all, he had no reason to believe Scorpius’ mum was as nice as he had been. 

“Kids these days." The woman chuckled and shook her head. "Well, we’re used to the kids poking around here on Halloween, but we’ve never had this before. Do you want some hot chocolate, Albus?”

Albus didn’t answer right away. He’d been taken aback by her reaction. She was actually offering to have him come to the house?

Albus happened to glance at Scorpius, who was nodding at Albus with another excited expression. “Okay.”

She took Scorpius’ hand in her own, and offered her other to Albus. He was hesitant as he took it, but she still smiled at Albus and led the boys toward the house. Her hand was actually very warm and Albus felt a little more comforted. 

“I see you’ve met Scorpius,” she said. “I’m Astoria Malfoy. You’ll meet Scorpius’ dad Draco inside. Now what were you boys chatting about out here in the cold?”

“Um…”

“I may have told him about us, Mum,” Scorpius admitted sheepishly. 

“He did,” Albus said. If Scorpius was going to get in trouble, Albus wanted to go down with him. “About magic and stuff.”

“Did you now?” Astoria gave her son a pointed look, but they didn’t say anything else. Albus had no idea if he and Scorpius were in trouble. But he didn’t have time to dwell on the thought before he was led into the house.

As soon as they walked in, Albus noticed how old everything felt in here, like the feeling of history ebbing from every corner. Albus was certain every piece of art, the wallpaper, and the worn floors were older than he was. This place had probably been around for centuries. But it was clean, just like the garden outside. Clearly it was kept-up, and didn't have any dust or cobwebs like Albus would have expected. The entryway had a few portraits of very stern looking people hung on the walls thats stared at the three as they came in. Albus was too scared of them to look at them for too long, but he swore a couple of the portraits were blinking.

Scorpius skipped ahead into the next room, and Astoria guided Albus in right behind him. They were in a lounge, though with how old everything looked maybe the word ‘parlor’ would’ve been more appropriate. Candles flickered in the corners of the rooms, a fire flickered in the hearth, and Albus swore the fire had a faint green glow to it.

“Have a seat, dear.”

“Astoria?” A man stepped into the room. This must have been the Draco that Astoria mentioned. He had to be Scorpius’ dad, they looked so much alike. Save for Draco’s very stern expression compared to Scorpius’ happier one. Draco looked right at Albus. “Who’s this?”

“Albus here ended up in our garden,” Astoria said. “And our son decided to have a chat with him.”

“A chat?”

“A detailed one, so it seems.” Astoria patted her husband’s shoulder. “Go get the boys some hot chocolate, Draco.”

Draco leaned in close to Astoria and spoke in a low whisper, one Albus just barely caught. “Did Scorpius say--”

“He did.”

“Astoria, we can’t have anyone know.”

“I don’t think we’ll have to worry too much, Draco. I have a feeling…”

They both glanced at Albus, who quickly ducked his gaze down to his hoodie zipper. 

While Astoria brushed Draco into the other room, Scorpius tapped Albus on the shoulder. “Ever heard of Pepper Imps?”

“Um, no?”

“They’re candies that make you smoke at the ears. Watch.” Scorpius pressed a few pieces of dark candy into his mouth. It took a second, and suddenly Scorpius’ face scrunched up and white steam burst out of both his ears with a high-pitched whistling sound. 

Albus jumped, but actually found himself smiling as he watched the scene unfold. Scorpius’ face looked absolutely ridiculous, all red and scrunched up while the steam poured right out of his head. When it was over, Scorpius was laughing along right with Albus.

“That’s amazing!” Albus said. “What else have you got?”

The next hour went by in a blur. A blur that was a really good time for Albus, in fact. He was swept up in anything Scorpius was showing him, another demonstration of the Pepper Imps - Albus even tried it out himself too - a few samplings of beans that tasted of every flavor, and some thankfully normal candies in the shape of feather quills and chocolate cakes, along with the deliciously warm hot chocolate that Draco had brought them. It was all absolutely incredible. In such a short time Albus felt at ease with Scorpius and his parents, and the magic that they spoke of and that filled their house. 

It was like he fit right in here. Not just because he and Scorpius immediately took to each other, or because Astoria and Draco were being kind to him. Something else made him feel like he belonged.

It was Astoria who finally noticed the time on the old clock on the wall. “Is it that time already?”

“We should be getting Albus home, before his family starts to worry,” Draco added. 

Albus’ shoulders sunk. He was having such a good time, he’d hate for this to be the end of it. Or worse, if he was never able to experience this again. 

But before Albus could get up from the sofa, Astoria crouched in front of him and took his hand again. “Albus, it’s been lovely to meet you, dear. But we need you to do us a favor.” All of the Malfoys were looking at him now, but he wasn’t scared one bit. Albus nodded and Astoria continued. “Anything we’ve told you tonight, or anything you’ve seen about magic or us being witches and wizards, we need you to keep it a secret. It’s very important to us that this stays a secret.”

Albus looked between all the Malfoys in turn, Scorpius’ bright and curious expression, Astoria’s dark, kind eyes, and Draco’s stern look that hid a sympathy deep down. Despite trespassing on their property and initially thinking they were evil witches, the Malfoys had welcomed him in. 

“I won’t tell anyone, I promise.” Albus said. He had a feeling that their secret would soon be his own to bear too. 

Albus was in much better spirits walking back down the trail with Astoria and Scorpius than he had been coming here with the other boys. Scorpius was still chattering away, about magic, and how they always had kids coming around their place on Halloween. 

“My brother went up to your house last year,” Albus told them. “And this year too. He thinks he’s super brave for doing it.”

Scorpius smiled. “Maybe we should’ve scared him then.”

“Maybe we should try to scare him next year,” Astoria added.

Albus smiled thinking of that idea.

Scorpius echoed his sentiment out loud. “We could!”

Albus was really liking Scorpius. Was it too much for him to hope he and Scorpius could be friends?

Too soon they came to the end of the trail. Albus could see people gathered at the end of the street under a haze from the street lamps. He was quick to recognize his parents, as well as James, and a police officer. All of them immediately looked up when the three of them emerged from the woods. 

Relief flooded over his dad’s face. “Albus!”

Albus ran ahead to his dad. Harry pulled Albus off the ground and nearly crushed him in a hug while Ginny also secured her arms around them and ran a hand through Albus’ hair.

“What happened?” Ginny asked.

Albus paused before speaking, internally reminding himself of his promise to the Malfoys. “We were going out to the woods. I got stuck on the other side of their fence. Billy pushed me, actually, and I couldn’t get back over…”

“Albus met my son while he was out there,” Astoria said. “The boys were spending a bit of time together until we wanted to walk Albus back safely.”

Albus happened to glance at James, who was staring at Astoria and Scorpius with very wide, scared eyes.

After a quick chat between the adults, and insisting that Albus was fine, they were free to go home. Ginny took Albus’ shoulders and started to guide Albus away.

“Albus!” Scorpius called. Albus quickly turned around. “Will I see you again soon?”

Albus broke into a huge grin. “Definitely!” Maybe he could still be friends with Scorpius. With both of them giving final smiles to each other, the boys finally left in opposite directions. Albus was left with an odd feeling of being glad to go home and sleep, and also sad he was parting from the Malfoys.

Harry had a hand on James’ shoulder as they walked, with a very firm grip. “You have a lot more explaining to do, James Sirius.”

“I didn’t _mean_ to lose Albus in the woods,” James grumbled.

“Well you can say goodbye to your video games and to seeing your friends for the next two weeks anyway.”

Albus smiled. 

* * *

_Nine Months Later_

Albus had never run so fast in his life. It was very warm out, a perfect July weekend. He stepped through several puddles on the ground, leftover from all the rain this week, but Albus had no regard for how wet his shoes got. All he cared about was getting to his friend’s house, and the piece of paper in his hand. 

Paper wasn’t quite right. Parchment, their visitor had called it. Though their visitor had said a lot of things. A lot of it Albus already knew, but the last couple hours while the visitor was at their house was still very much a blur. It was overwhelming, yet affirming. Albus had never felt so accepted in his entire life. 

He was so familiar with the trail to the Malfoys now. He certainly took it often enough to visit. The house itself too was very familiar now; the look of it, the rooms, even the little magical items around the house were so familiar and even comforting to him. He reached Malfoy Manor in record time. The gate wasn’t locked, so he was able to get right into the grounds and run right up to the door. Albus pounded furiously, not thinking that he could be disturbing them. “Scorpius!”

The door was thrown open a second later, and Scorpius was standing there. 

Albus held up the letter he’d received from the visitor. “Scorpius, I’m a wizard! I’m going to Hogwarts!”

Scorpius broke into the biggest smile in the world. He held up an identical letter in his own hand. “We’re going together!”

Scorpius pulled Albus into a hug. Albus happened to see that just up the stairs, Astoria and Draco were watching the boys. Astoria had a sly, knowing smile. 

Here he was, with a new friend, and a whole new life ahead of him. Albus was a _wizard_. He finally had an explanation for the strange things he could do. He had found a friend who had accepted him, and who could tell him all about magic. And he had a letter in hand, welcoming him to a new life where he’d continue to fit in, just like he had at the Malfoys.

Like he’d found a new version of a home on that Halloween night at the witches’ house.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Kudos and comments are always appreciated!  
> Find me on twitter @truexmeg and tumblr @truemeg


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